The invention relates to a soap dispenser for soaps, lotion or liquid, and hand sanitizer solutions, any of which may also be of the foaming or non-foaming variety that is normally mounted on a vertical surface such as a wall. (Hereinafter referred to as “soap dispenser” and material to be dispensed as “soap”). In the past wall mounted soap dispensers have normally had a dispensing outlet located near the bottom of the soap dispenser. A lever or dispensing mechanism was moved to pump the soap from the dispenser onto a desired surface, such as the hands of a user. These soap dispensers usually fell into the category of being a bulk fill dispenser or a dispenser that had a pre-measured quantity of soap that was retained in a container such as a pouch. A dispensing nozzle was attached to the bulk soap reservoir or the soap pouch to dispense the soap to the desired surface. These types of soap dispensers had a significant problem in that the dispensing mechanism for the soap would fail periodically and essentially all of the soap in the reservoir or the pouch would be discharged. The soap that was discharged when the dispenser failed was at a minimum a mess to clean up, a waste of expensive soap, and in some applications it created a very slippery surface that presented a significant danger to potential users of the soap dispenser.
The soap dispenser of the present invention overcomes the deficiencies of these prior soap dispensers. The present soap dispenser dispenses the soap from the top of the dispenser and the force of gravity will not allow the soap in the reservoir to be discharged from a failed or malfunctioning dispensing pump. In addition, the present soap dispenser can be bulk filled with either liquid or foam type of soap. The soap dispenser also has a removable soap dispensing pump that makes it easy to service the soap dispenser and to bulk fill the soap dispenser. These and other advantages of the invention will be more readily understood by reading the following description of the invention.